Fiat to launch North America ad campaign

Melissa Burden / The Detroit News

Posted:
04/06/2013 12:06:20 AM MDT

Updated:
04/06/2013 11:59:25 PM MDT

New York -- Chrysler Group LLC's Fiat brand plans to reveal a new advertising campaign early next month, the head of the Fiat brand in North America said during an interview at the New York International Auto Show last week.

Ads for the brand should begin airing on television during the first week of May and will be supported with digital and social media including YouTube, Tim Kuniskis, Fiat's chief in North America, told The Detroit News.

"The absolute key to our advertising is to be different so that people remember, because we're a small brand," he said.

Currently, Fiat mostly shows its "immigrant" commercial -- in which Fiat 500s drive into the ocean and then are shown driving on U.S. streets -- on television.

"It'll be a good lead-in to our (Fiat 500) L campaign," Kuniskis said of the new campaign, which will have multiple variations. "It'll have the same look and feel as our L campaign. We've had the immigrant spot...we've had it out there for a few months now, so it's time to refresh."

Don't be surprised to see some Fiat 500 Abarth ads.

"Abarth allows us to be somewhat schizophrenic," Kuniskis said. "You can have a regular 500 ad that's very mainstream, that we can show it at 8 o'clock on NBC -- and then we can do something really edgy with Abarth and run that on sports, late night, things like that."

Advertisement

Fiat dealers are just receiving the new 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth Cabrio turbocharged convertible and the electric 2013 Fiat 500e will begin hitting dealerships in California this month, said Kuniskis. The bigger 500 L and 500 L Trekking will hit dealers this summer.

The Italian brand also is bringing back the Fiat 500 by Gucci edition, which quickly sold 2,000 units when it was previously released. Customers can order the car in May; the vehicles should be available in June, Kuniskis said. He said Fiat wasn't setting a number of vehicles for this round of production. "This time, we just want to see how it goes."

The new models should help Fiat continue to add sales in the U.S., Fiat says. Through March, Fiat has sold 9,612 cars in the U.S., up 9 percent from the same period a year ago. Fiat sold just shy of 44,000 cars in the U.S. last year, and nearly 20,000 in 2011.

Andrew Shaver, owner of a Fiat dealership in Thousand Oaks, Calif., said he's looking forward to the new ad campaign and vehicles such as the 500e and 500L to grow sales.

"If the marketing contains a plan to focus on non-traditional and digital mediums, I think it will be very effective in bringing new customers to the studios," he said in an email.

Fiat's Kuniskis said the brand doesn't have a target customer. Less than 20 percent of customers come from the mini-car segment, but customers make about $93,000 a year, he said.

"They can afford to buy whatever they want," Kuniskis said. "They're buying the 500 because they like the car."

And expect Fiat to continue adding special editions, Kuniskis said. The Cattiva option package on the sport model was just approved for production, he said.

"Being in a small segment, you've got to make sure you've got something that appeals to everybody," he said.